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Lohan's Lawyer's Letter to City Attorneys: Let's Work Together to 'Fix' Lindsay
Mark Heller and Lindsay Lohan in court, January 30, 2013 (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
Lindsay Lohan's new lawyer, Mark Heller, is pretty ballsy. The last time we saw him in court was when he affirmed he would be Lohan's new representation, and the New Yorker made time to work in some attempts at kissing up to no-nonsense Judge Stephanie Sautner. (It didn't work.) Now an audacious letter Heller sent to two local City Attorney's offices reveals he's appealed to prosecutors they circumvent the traditional punitive route so they can work as a team to "fix" Lohan.
Heller attached the letter he sent to Terry White at the Santa Monica City Attorney's office and Spencer Hart at the Los Angeles City Attorney's office to filed court documents, reports TMZ. The gossip site also has the full letter available by .pdf download.
In the letter, Heller explains he has known Lohan for a long time, and understands the family and personal struggles she has endured. In a very elaborately constructed sentence, Heller says that the public doesn't know the full story, and the media distorts what they glean about Lohan's private life. This leaves people to know only this "negative public persona" of Lohan, and not take into account the "pain, torment, and confusion" that the star has experienced.
The goal of the letter is to suggest to the prosecutors that the usual punishments aren't going to work, and that there could be another way. Heller writes:
I appeal to your good conscience to join me in not rubber stamping this case but rather to be patient and understanding and open to productive alternatives, as we, as a team, help "fix" Lindsay Lohan.
Oh, yes he did.
Heller is asking the court put the case on "the slow track" so that Lohan can get busy doing stuff most people in the legal system don't get to do to help their case, like create a youth foundation and appear in public service announcements, as well as undergo intense therapy. If the court basically stalls the case, it would help Lohan become the "proud, productive and positive contributor in her life, to her family, society, and to her industry."
Judge Sautner is cc'd on the letter, and, according to TMZ, "the letter pissed the judge off because it looks like an attempt to improperly influence the court."